Work/Life Balance

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. This well-known proverb revolves around a very important aspect of each working person’s life; work-life balance. With the coronavirus it’s easy to understand how finding a good balance could be difficult but it is important to keep this in mind. As a working adult it is important to manage your time effectively. Often times I’ve heard from friends and family about how exhausted they are from work and how they have no time for anything else. This is not a good way to live because it could lead to being resentful and eventually general unhappiness with the life that you live. To start this post off I will first explain my own personal experience with a terrible work life balance and then move on to some suggestions to better change our lives for the better.

In 2017 I was offered a job as a case manager in a homeless shelter for single women. I was excited about this job because it would be the first job within my field (human services/psychology) so it felt like I was making a good first step towards my life goals. The main issue with this job was that I had about a 2 ½ hour commute to and from work and my only form of transportation was the good ol’ MTA. For my out of state readers, MTA refers to the public transportation system for New York City. It comprises of buses and trains that run 24/7. Now for the first four months I was enjoying the job. It was a new experience and I love new experiences. However one day I woke up and I felt weird. I had terrible chest pain like I had acid reflux. This wouldn’t have been the first time that I had acid reflux so I brushed it off because I assumed that it would go away by the time I get to work. During my walk to the train, the pain didn’t subside. During my first train ride, the pain didn’t subside. During my second train ride, the pain didn’t subside. During my bus ride, the pain didn’t subside. By the time I got to my office I was close to tears because my breathing at this time was very shallow in order to reduce the pain. My director ended up sending me to the hospital to get checked out. At the hospital I was recommended to go see a gastrointestinal doctor and a heart doctor because nothing wrong was apparent during the visit. Gastrointestinal visit turned into an endoscopy which yielded nothing. Same thing for the heart doctor visit. After talking with my coworkers we came to the conclusion that it could have been stress that I was putting my body under unknowingly. So let me explain how that makes sense. I told you guys that my commute was 2 ½ hours. Any one that knows me knows that I don’t sleep long at night (which is a horrible habit). Nowadays I get about 3 hours of sleep nightly (again terrible) and back then it was about 4-5 hours (still terrible). So I wasn’t sleeping at night, I was commuting a long way to and from work and then I was in a “high-stress” job. I didn’t think I was stressed but by those factors it’s easy to see how my body could feel differently.

So since that time I’ve made it a mission to try to change my life for the better, especially because I plan on making my career in this field. In order to achieve long term success I have to be able to manage my work time and my personal life so I’m not frequenting the hospital every so often. It’s not a fun experience nor is it a cheap one either. Roche comprised a list of 20 different tips that could help one achieve a better work life balance and I will focus on a few that I have used thus far in my own life. Such as setting aside time for myself and not allowing myself to get wrapped up in my job. Making exercise a necessity and not just thinking about it. I’ve been slacking on this but I often use exercise as a way of decompressing whether it be running in the park, home workouts or shadowboxing for a couple minutes just to calm myself from a long day of work. And taking a vacation. For some this is not difficult but if you’re like me you don’t take vacation at all because you are weary about the work that will await you when you get back. I suggest taking that time to really clear your mind from the stresses of work. These are only a few tips and the link for the full list will be down in the references. However I hope that this is helpful for whoever needs to start changing their work/life for the better.  

References

20 tips for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.roche.com/careers/our-locations/asia/india/service/folder/20_tips_for_maintain.htm